


Obnoxious Onlooker

by ClaudiaWrites



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - Muggle, F/M, Fluff and Humor, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-23
Updated: 2018-09-21
Packaged: 2019-03-23 02:20:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 12,902
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13777623
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ClaudiaWrites/pseuds/ClaudiaWrites
Summary: Lily Evans eats sandwiches and does ballet. James Potter is obsessed with a certain flavored sauce, and is a low key stalker. They meet, and idiocy ensues.





	1. Chapter 1

** Obnoxious Onlooker **

** Chapter 1 **

**A/N** – A very pointless, but nonetheless (hopefully) fun fic. Gracious thanks go out to my Beta, Lun, for helping me improve this chapter drastically. Enjoy.

**Disclaimer** – Own nothing. You already know it all.

* * *

"Hey, Mark," Lily Evans greeted the blonde boy as she stepped inside the Subway joint, the bell above the door tinkling pleasantly. She felt the aroma of baked bread and fresh vegetables attack her senses, and smiled.

Mark Little, the chubby boy who stood behind the register, looked up at her entrance, and a wide grin lightened up his face. Noticing the pink tinge on his cheeks, Lily had to keep from chuckling.

He really didn't try very hard to be subtle about his crush on her.

Mark was cute, she supposed.

But he was also still just a fresher in high school, and Lily was a college student. To her, he was cute in a more 'young-adorable-brother' sort of way than anything else. She decided to keep that thought to herself lest she hurt his adolescent pride.

But she _did_ chuckle, pulled off the beanie from her vibrant red hair, and shook off the snow from it as she walked up to the counter.

It was an early Sunday morning; the only day Lily ever found herself completely free of college work or ballet lessons. And she firmly believed that there was no better way of starting off her day than with a sandwich and a hot cup of coffee.

Being a scholarship student at one of the best colleges in the country had at least eased Lily's worries about having to pay off loans or the humongous tuition fee she could have never afforded.

Lily greatly appreciated the savings her parents had left her, before they had passed away a year and a half ago, but she still maintained a safe job teaching ballet to young kids at the local studio. That was the one thing Lily was quite confidently brilliant at, and she felt no qualms about using her talent to support herself and pay her apartment rent.

As a twenty year old girl in a new neighborhood, Lily had initially found it challenging to settle in. But really, anything was better than what she would have had to endure living with her elder sister, Petunia, and her obese, perennially-disgruntled husband, Vernon Dursley.

On the rare occasions that she allowed herself to think of the highly strange couple, Lily always found herself wondering what her sister could have _ever_ seen in a man like Vernon that didn't immediately remind her of a bad-tempered walrus.

And the fact that Petunia was well on her way to have a kid with him…

Lily tried not to think about the _abhorrent_ images that accompanied that fact, unless she preferred to die of brain damage.

She shook away her wayward thoughts, and waved at Mark.

"Sorry about the mess, kid," She told him, nodding towards the melting snow she had brought into the shop along with her, knowing full well that it was unavoidable and that the snow really _ought_ to have let up by now.

The fifteen-year old in front of her grimaced at her referring to him as a kid, and Lily laughed again. At least she controlled her urge of reaching up and tousling his hair. Poor Mark. "I hope Bill doesn't give you too much trouble for it," she said.

"Bill's not here yet," Mark told her, waving her apology away, "besides, he'll come in with his own trail of snow, and then I can just blame it on him."

"You know he'll still make you clean it up,"

"I get paid for it," Mark shot back with a grin. Lily laughed at how pleased he seemed with his answer.

"Fair enough," she allowed, "although why you'd want to let your own brother boss you around, I'll never know."

She'd never work under Petunia. Heavens, no, thank you very much.

"I'm in school, Lily," Mark reminded her, scrunching his nose up in a way that let Lily know how much it pained him to do so. She reined in another chuckle for his sake, "it's the best job I can get right now."

"Aw, there there," Lily cooed, leaning against the glass counter behind which the ingredients for the sandwiches rested, "you'll be pleased to know that you're already ahead of me. I never worked at your age."

That seemed to do the trick, and the boy grinned brightly again.

"The usual, then?" Mark asked her, slipping on his plastic gloves as he moved to stand behind the glass counter. The bell above the door tinkled behind them again, signaling the entrance of a customer, but Lily was too busy reading the menu to pay any attention to the newcomer.

"No, I'm feeling a little rebellious today," Lily answered Mark's question distractedly. Her green eyes scanned over the menu thoughtfully once more before she settled on her choice. "I'll have a chicken and bacon ranch melt, please."

"Excellent choice," a smug voice spoke up from her left.

Lily turned to find a young man, as tall as they came, roughly near her own age, smirking back at her. Rectangular framed glasses, behind which bright hazel eyes shone mischievously, sat on his slightly long, defined nose. Lily' stomach flopped—quite pleasantly—and she tilted her head to the side inquisitively, trying to look unfazed. Although how much of a success that was, she didn't know, because he had that atrociously untameable, _sexy hair_ and—

"I'm sorry, do I know you?" She asked, her voice thankfully not betraying her squirming insides.

"Er," he said, his grin faltering for a second. But then he was smirking again, reaching his hand up and running it through his hair, "No, but you would want to."

His confident air, and the swagger in his tone, struck something in Lily, and she cocked an eyebrow at him, looking _quite_ unfazed. Success.

"Uh, that is to say," he fumbled, thrown off by her blasé attitude, and Lily, God save her, found it endearing, "I'm James. James Potter."

Of course he would have a handsome name, too.

"Lily Evans," she offered, before swiftly turning back to look at Mark.

The blonde boy was pouting quite openly now, and although he must have noticed Lily's flushed cheeks— _undoubtedly_ he did—he did not comment on it in front of James.

Lily tapped her fingers against the glass as Mark prepared her sandwich. She resolutely kept her head turned away from the boy next to her, even though she was quite certain he was unabashedly staring at her.

It was more than a little disconcerting to Lily that she did not find his behavior even mildly creepy.

She then decided that the stress was very evidently addling with her brain, and she needed to go home and sleep for a while.

"Sauces?"

"Er," Lily blinked, focusing on the sandwich in front of her again, "right, erm, the usual with that."

Mark nodded—his earlier pout now gone—and started adding mayonnaise abundantly to the sandwich in a zigzag pattern. Just the way she liked it.

"But there's no honey mustard."

"Excuse me?" Lily turned around to look at James, finding herself unable to ignore his displeased observation.

"Honey mustard," he clarified again, frowning as if she had done him some great injustice, "the sauce. You didn't add that."

Lily gave an incredulous bark of laughter, "I don't like it."

If possible, James looked even more scandalized. Dear lord, the boy was strange. "Not—not like _honey mustard_? How is that—no, that's not—you must try it right now!"

Lily shifted her body completely then, facing James again. She propped up a hand on her hip and raised an eyebrow. "No, thank you, Potter, _really_ , but mustard is not my thing," she said.

But James was already shaking his head before she'd even stopped talking. He abruptly broke eye contact with her—it was a pity, he had such nice eyes—to look at poor Mark. The blonde boy had his mouth open slightly as he witnessed the rather strange interaction, and now he looked to James warily.

"Mate, be a good lad and add some honey mustard on the sub, will you?" He asked, completely missing Lily's horrified expression. "She doesn't know what she's missing out on."

"I, uh—"

"Excuse _me_!" Lily sputtered, sparing Mark from having to respond. "You cannot just—that is _my_ sub."

He gave her a blank stare, as if not comprehending her point.

How obnoxious. Lily fumed, nostrils flaring, before she turned back to Mark. The young boy looked distinctly uncomfortable, and didn't even smile at Lily, which was really saying something. Not that she could blame him of course, Lily assumed she very closely resembled a fire-spitting dragon at that moment.

"I'll have my clean, honey-mustard- _less_ sub now, please, Mark," she bit out.

"Right, right," Mark snapped into action at her demand, bustling around and wrapping up the sandwich in record time. He grabbed a steaming cup of coffee, and was soon punching Lily's total onto the computer screen.

"Hey, uh, Lily, I didn't mean to—I'm sorry," James said, running his fingers through his hair again.

Lily narrowed her eyes, though she could already feel her anger simmering down a little.

"It's okay," she said. And if her voice still sounded miffed, well, that wasn't her fault.

"Right," James shuffled his feet awkwardly, no longer meeting her eye.

He looked embarrassed enough that Lily almost felt bad for him. But really, he'd brought this upon himself.

Honey mustard! Honestly.

"Here you go, Lily," Mark gave her the sandwich and coffee once she'd paid.

"Thanks, Mark," Lily said, turning towards the door, "Tell Bill I said hi."

"You're not staying?" Mark questioned, frowning.

Lily's eyes momentarily darted to James still doing his awkward shuffling thing, and wished she hadn't. He caught her stare and looked down at the floor, seeming even guiltier than before. Although her stomach churned uncomfortably, she didn't say anything.

"No, I uh—need to catch up on some work," Lily answered, "I'll stop by later though."

"Alright," Mark sighed, giving her a disheartened wave, "Goodbye, then."

Lily managed to smile at him sincerely, and then looked back at James again. "Bye, Potter."

James's eyes snapped up to hers in surprise, and Lily had the distinct impression that he hadn't expected her to talk to him again. She almost laughed.

"I, er—goodbye," he said.

Lily nodded once and walked to the door. She felt an unfounded tug that made her want to go talk to James Potter again—her anger entirely nonexistent now—but she squashed the urge.

How absurd.

He was silly in a charming way, _sure_ , and he had his looks going for him too, but no—Lily shook her head decisively—he was a complete idiot. Taking a deep breath, she pushed open the door and stepped out into the snow again, sipping her coffee.

A tall, ridiculously good looking man with long dark hair was leaning against the wall of the shop. His grey eyes locked on her when Lily exited. He gave her a weird look, which she stupendously failed to understand.

Suddenly, he was stepping away from the wall and into the shop, and Lily shook her head again. She was clearly too exhausted, and was imagining things.

Taking another sip of her coffee, she made her way to the nearest bookstore.

* * *

The bell above the door of the shop jingled merrily again just seconds after Lily Evans had stepped out.

James's head immediately jerked up from where he'd taken to gently banging it against the glass counter, accompanied by miserable groaning, with surprise. Could it be that she was back?

But no, it was just Sirius.

James's shoulder slumped dejectedly again at the sight of his best friend—which was rather ironic—and he went back to his head-bashing.

"Well?" Sirius poked James none too gently on the side, "How'd it go?"

" _Bad_ ," came the despondent reply, "Really, really bad. She hates me."

"Cheers," Sirius clapped James on the shoulder before swiftly turning to the blonde boy behind the counter, "Oi, mate, you were here, weren't you? How dramatic is he being, exactly?"

"A little. She doesn't hate him," Mark replied. Sirius noticed that the boy didn't seem too happy with his own answer, and assumed quite correctly that his sappy best mate wasn't the only one besotted with the pretty redhead.

"Now then," Sirius turned back to look at James, "Tell me the tales of your idiocy."

"Yes, please, I'd appreciate if you ceased the head-banging," Mark put in, "I'm the one that cleans the glass."

Sirius grinned, deciding immediately that he liked the boy very much.

James simply groaned loudly, and looked up to glare at his best mate. "You're shit at consoling, Sirius."

"Better than being shit at talking to women," Sirius said flatly, "Honestly James, how could you have messed up within a five-minute conversation?"

James opened his mouth to reply, but then Sirius held up his hand to silence him. He turned back to Mark. "I'm starving, mate. Get us two steak and cheese sandwiches while I endure this sod, would you? All vegetables and sauces."

The young boy snickered and saluted him, getting to work.

With an exaggerated long suffering sigh, Sirius dragged James over to one of the tables in the small shop, and plopped down—looking quite cool doing so—onto a chair. James followed suit much less gracefully, and simply went back to thumping his head against the table.

"Enough of that," Sirius drawled, rolling his eyes, "I saw her walk out of the place. She didn't seem nearly as upset as you're making me believe she was."

"I'm an idiot," James finally looked up.

"No arguments there."

"Ugh, I don't know what's wrong with me," he continued, "it was going fine—well not _fine_ , because I couldn't think of what to say. She looked so gorgeous—and then she ordered her sandwich."

"How dare she," Sirius deadpanned.

"Shut up," James groaned, "She didn't ask him to put honey mustard on her sandwich. And of course I had to tell her how wrong that was, because it's only the best sauce _ever_ , and she didn't agree. But then, I tried to convince the boy there to do it anyway, and she got _really_ red in the face, and like—I definitely screwed up, Sirius."

"Hold on," Sirius blinked, cocking an eyebrow, "you mean to tell me that after weeks—no, _months_ —of pining after this ballet girl, when you finally get a chance to impress her, snog her, or at the very least get her number, you instead choose to convince her of your weird obsession with a _sauce flavor_?"

"I think we've already covered that I'm an idiot," James moaned.

It had been a little over two months ago, while he was strolling by the ballet studio near his house, that he'd first laid eyes on Lily Evans through the glass window. And although he hadn't known who she was, hadn't even known her _name_ then, James had immediately turned into a pathetic puddle at the sight of her.

Thick red hair tumbling past her shoulders, bright green eyes standing out beautifully against her pale skin; it was all too much to take in at once for him. But then she'd smiled widely at one of the twelve-year old girls she taught, and James had known he was doomed to pine after her forever.

She had struck him dumb.

Of course, this was something that still had to change. Unless he was talking about which kind of sauce she should add on her sandwich, obviously.

God, he couldn't believe he had acted like such a _moron_.

It wasn't as if James was such a nincompoop in general. In fact, he was pretty suave and debonair when he wanted to impress someone. Wit and charm came effortlessly to him. So this was something James wasn't used to—or happy with—at all. Lily made a blundering fool out of him.

It had been a shocking moment for him when he'd noticed her entering the shop that morning from across the road. Sirius, who had been completely oblivious to James's earth-shattering nerves, had continued towards the shop for a good five seconds before noticing that his friend hadn't been following.

It had been so surreal for James. The beautiful, ballet-doing, heart-stealing redhead had seemed like an existence he could only hope to catch a glimpse of once in a while from outside the studio.

But seeing her out in the open, going to the same place he had so casually been about to walk into, no less—well, it had broken his brain, to put it mildly.

Naturally, Sirius had taken it upon himself to remind James that he was acting like an utter ponce, and that talking to her directly was the only way to go about solving this problem. At that moment, Sirius's argument had seemed quite sound and reasonable and had motivated James enough that he'd entered the shop alone to talk to Lily.

But of course, this was all before he'd remembered that the girl pretty much made him as eloquent as a cow on drugs.

And now, because of his stupidity, she would probably never speak to him again.

"Here are your sandwiches," The young boy from earlier—Mark, if James recalled correctly—came up to their table.

Sirius took the food from him, and gave the boy a curious look. James could clearly see the wheels turning in his head as he regarded Mark speculatively.

"Say, that girl my friend was talking to earlier—she come here a lot?"

Mark shrugged his skinny shoulders, "Lily? Occasionally, on the weekends, yeah."

James's stomach gave an excited flip at the answer, but he tried to keep his composure. Of course—as was his usual case in all matters concerning Lily—he failed spectacularly, and ended up looking entirely too hopeful.

"Brilliant. Thanks mate," Sirius told the young boy, smiling charmingly. Mark shrugged his shoulders again, trying to look casual, but it was hard to miss the idolizing light in his eyes as he looked at Sirius.

James was of the mind that after what Mark had observed earlier, the boy would have found even the sewer rats cooler than James in comparison.

Being compared to Sirius now was just unfair.

"So, now you know where to have the next run-in with your ballet-bird," Sirius told him once Mark had walked over to serve another customer that had just entered the shop.

James frowned, not liking the idea of him acting like a stalker, even though the way Sirius had just referred to Lily has _his_ —

"Too creepy," James countered, picking up his sandwich and taking a hefty bite.

"Mate," Sirius leveled him with a flat look, "you stare at her from outside her ballet studio."

The tip of James's ears flushed furiously, "That's—it's not the same thing! I happened to _walk by_ the studio—"

"The first time."

"—and it's not like I was following her around!"

"You won't be following her now," Sirius shrugged, picking up his own sandwich, "it'll just be a deliberately planned _accidental_ meeting. For the second time."

"You should hear yourself," James grumbled, "you're, like, ten different shades of bullshitting."

"I hear myself just fine. I have a very charming voice," Sirius waved his complaints off, "I'm just trying to help you salvage yourself from your own incompetence with women. And well, trying to save myself from your incessant whining, to be perfectly honest."

"I'm not _incompetent_ with women—"

"Honey mustard, Potter?"

"—it's just Lily I seem to be having difficulty with," James glared at him.

Sirius flicked a lock of dark hair away from his eyes before continuing, "Look, I'm hardly asking you to follow her home, James, but really—"

"No, Sirius," James shook his head resolutely, "she'll definitely catch on. And I've already made a fool out of myself in front of her. I'd rather not come off as a creepy fool, thanks."

"Says the peeper," Sirius rolled his eyes.

" _Peeper_?! I'm not—"

"Fine, fine," Sirius stuffed some of the sandwich wrapping paper into James's indignantly open mouth. He quite pointedly ignored the sputtering and slew of insults that followed. "Have it your own way, then. But I'll tell you this; my ears are officially closed to any whines and laments about her, starting now."

James made a noncommittal grumbling noise.

"Must agree she is quite a fit bird, though," Sirius mused absentmindedly.

"Oi!"

"Maybe _I_ should have a deliberately planned accidental meeting with her instead."

"You wouldn't dare," James narrowed his eyes with a glower.

Sirius grinned wolfishly. Target hit and acquired.

* * *

**A/N** – Hello there, lovely readers. This was a very unplanned story for me. But I really like the direction it's taking now. So this will probably be a two or three chapter story, I'm not entirely certain yet. Do leave me a bunch of reviews about what you think will happen, and what are your thoughts on it so far. Mountains of love.

Claudia.


	2. Chapter 2

**Obnoxious Onlooker**

**Chapter 2**

**Disclaimer** – Own nothing. You already know it all.

* * *

"Hey there, kid!"

Mark looked up at the sound of the vaguely familiar voice. The good-looking bloke with the cool jacket from the week before entered the shop, waving at him. The other guy who'd been an arse to Lily also followed behind him.

"Hullo," Mark greeted.

The two boys nodded genially at him, and moved to settle at the table near the window.

"Sirius," The sauce-guy frowned uncertainly, "I'm still not sure about this."

"It doesn't matter, James."

"Doesn't matter?" James scoffed loudly, smacking the back of Sirius's head. "I'm the one who's going to have to endure the humiliation, not you. So I think it does matter how I feel about this."

"First of all, ouch," Sirius thwacked James in retaliation, "second of all, if you play it cool like I asked you to, there will be no humiliation."

"You know my brain and mouth start to dysfunction around her."

"I'm aware of your vast shortcomings with women, yes."

"For the billionth time, Sirius—"

"As long as you steer clear of forcing your meal preferences on her, you should be good."

James sighed, looking annoyed with his best mate. "You know, if you hadn't threatened me—"

Sirius's sudden bark of laughter cut him off. "You're a right ponce, mate. You knew very well I wouldn't have gone through with the threat. It's actually just your inner stalker coming out of hibernation and roaring to be acknowledged."

James looked appropriately offended at that. His eyes narrowed and he lowered his voice to a whisper, "you keep saying that, Sirius, and I'll cut your hair off in your sleep."

The sod simply smirked. "I'll tell your ballet girl that you've been lurking then."

"Liar," James grinned triumphantly, waving a finger in front of Sirius's face. "An empty threat is what it is."

"It's not," Sirius whispered, smirk still in place. He winked at James's wary expression before his eyes shifted somewhere else. With a casual grace that had always seemed to escape James, he bellowed, "Oi, Evans!"

And then James's blood ran cold.

Oh bugger.

James supposed that he had heard the bell above the door of the shop chime a during the past few minutes, but he hadn't really bothered to turn around and check.

Stupid of him, really, given the reason he'd even come there in the first place was for her.

Except now that he knew she was here again, he couldn't, for the life of him, figure out what he was supposed to do.

And damn it if he wasn't going to murder Sirius for looking so bloody smug at his own scheming.

"Er," James heard her wary voice, and closed his eyes, not wanting to turn around and face her after last time. "How—How do you know my name?" she asked.

"Through my mate James here, of course," Sirius grinned unabashedly, and then proceeded to promptly thump James on the shoulder.

James glared at him menacingly, but the gesture went unappreciated as his friend remained looking entirely too pleased with the situation.

It was inevitable then. And Sirius knew it too.

So James finally turned around, and saw his awkward expression mirrored quite comically on Lily's face. He forced his mouth into a small smile, hoping it didn't look too constipated, and gave her a small wave.

"Hey," he said.

"Hey," Lily said, smiling back at him politely. And as a stranger who'd only had one cringe-worthy encounter with him before would normally act, she turned back around after a few seconds to continue her conversation with Mark.

James sighed deeply, shifting in his seat to look at Sirius again. He tried not to be too disappointed with her quick dismissal, but honestly, James couldn't even blame her.

Sirius, on the other hand, looked quite outraged that his meddling had so obviously been trampled upon.

"Come join us, Evans!" He shouted again, and James almost groaned out loud in embarrassment. "Mark here tells me Sunday mornings at Subway is your usual thing."

"Oh my God, Sirius," James hissed under his breath, "now she'll definitely know we've been asking around about her."

"Grow some balls, would you?" Sirius replied back sweetly, his mouth barely moving and his eyes still fixed on Lily.

James subtly watched her speaking with Mark with a small frown between her eyebrows, a wrapped sandwich in hand. However, she soon turned back around to face them again, and James snapped his eyes away from her.

Sirius, on the other hand, grinned brightly.

"Come on then, take a seat," he said, and James realized Lily had finally come to stand beside their table.

"Er," she said again, eyeing them both uncertainly. She ultimately decided on just leveling James with a questioning look, as if asking him about his best mate's evident lunacy.

"Well, that's Sirius Black," James offered by way of explanation. Who is going to die at my hands, he added inwardly. He supposed Lily would find it a tad bit strange if he'd said it out loud.

"And you are Lily Evans, the gorgeous redhead," Sirius winked, again gesturing towards the empty chair between him and James.

Lily rolled her eyes a little, but finally humored him, gracefully sitting down. "Not very subtle, are you?" she asked Sirius.

"Beauty needs to be appreciated without restraint."

"If you say so."

"I imagine you'd have something to say to me in return, then?"

"Sure," Lily smirked, "your best mate has really smashing hair."

Sirius gave a loud bark of laughter, slapping his knee.

"You're good," he said.

James would have to agree. He knew very well that his hair was simply one of those things he considered as a boon from God, it was that marvelous. But hearing it from Lily, who seemed to have no qualms throwing him a compliment like that, while bantering with Sirius no less…

Well, frankly, it made him envious of how cool she could be around him.

Especially when he was having such a hard time not gaping at how lovely she looked.

"I saw you the other day," Lily told Sirius, "outside the shop."

"I remember," Sirius replied, "couldn't forget you, especially not after James's rant."

"Oh?" Lily raised an eyebrow, turning her face to look at James now. She had a small smile playing on her lips. "You ranted about me?"

James felt his face grow hot. This was Sirius's great plan? To make him out to be an even bigger loon than she already thought he was?

How exactly was he supposed to 'play it cool' again?

"More like ranted about my stupidity," James answered with a sigh. He didn't see any way out of this, and by the way Sirius's smirk grew, he supposed that was what his friend was hoping his answer would be.

"Well, I'll give you that," Lily laughed.

Great, so now he just had to make a fool out of himself. Brilliant.

"As much as it pains me to do so," Sirius stood up, "I'm afraid I'm going to have to deprive you of my dashing company for now."

"Where are you going?" James narrowed his eyes.

"Oh you know, saving puppies and all that."

"What?" Lily asked, frowning in confusion.

"Sirius has a weird obsession with dogs," James explained.

"Not as weird as having an obsession with mustard," Sirius shot back, and Lily laughed again.

"Firstly, it's called honey mustard," James glared, "and secondly…well there's no second point, get out of here, kindly."

"I suppose I must," Sirius sighed, picking up his leather jacket from where he'd hung on the back of his chair and tossing it over his shoulder in a graceful movement. He looked to Lily and took a deep, exaggerated bow, "I do hope you'll forgive me for leaving you with this dolt again."

"Oi!"

"I'll manage," Lily replied dryly, waving Sirius goodbye.

Once the cretin, whom James incidentally referred to as his best mate occasionally, had left the shop, he heard Lily chuckle softly under her breath.

"What's funny?" James asked, raising his eyebrows.

"He couldn't have been more obvious if he'd tried," Lily said, grinning. "Best friends are quite annoying like that though, aren't they? Making us look stupid when we least want them to?"

"Er," James's hand reached up to run through his hair, his face heating again. "Sorry 'bout that."

"What are you apologizing for?"

"Well, you know, he was rather…"

"Straightforward?"

"Well, I was going for shameless, but I suppose that works too."

Lily awarded him with an amused smirk. "There wasn't much left for him to do after Mark told me you'd already asked about me last week."

If possible, James felt even more embarrassed. "Oh bugger, I'm sorry, that was Sirius, too."

"Oh?"

"I mean, I told him not to—really, I did. It was stupid."

"I didn't mind. I quite like it actually."

James froze, mouth falling open a little. "What?"

Lily grinned at him then, and James felt a swooping sensation in his stomach. "I said I didn't mind," she shrugged, "I mean, yes, originally I was rather shocked and annoyed, but well, I suppose you're not as insufferable when you're not hijacking my sandwich toppings."

"Oh, umm," James blinked twice, "thanks?"

Lily bit her lip, looking very much like she was controlling her laughter. James couldn't even find himself getting offended.

"So, what do you do?" she asked him after she'd taken a bite of her sandwich and swallowed.

"I'm, uh, taking psychology at uni," James answered, "But, like, I play football. I'm hoping I'll get to go professional."

"You any good?"

James smirked, "God, I hope so. Otherwise everyone's just been lying to me all these years, including the scoreboard."

"If anyone's ever called you modest, you can be assured they have."

"Hmm, not that I can remember."

"Well," Lily smiled, "I suppose you're safe then."

"I do pick the company I keep very wisely."

"Am I included in that assessment?"

"I can hardly decide that based on just one meeting."

"Two, you mean?" Lily raised an eyebrow.

James snorted, "I'd rather like to forget the first one, please."

"Yes I suppose you would want that," she chuckled.

"Wouldn't you?" James asked, pushing his glasses up his nose.

"And deprive myself of the memory of that scintillating conversation we had?" Lily mock-gasped, "I couldn't dare!"

"Will anyone ever let me live that one down?" James groaned.

"Can you blame us?"

"No, and that just makes it worse," he sighed.

"There, there," Lily consoled, an amused glint in her eyes as she reached up to ruffle his hair. James's heart thudded violently at her touch, and he tried not to be too obvious. But his breath hitched anyway, and he was rather certain he thoroughly failed at nonchalance. As usual. "Don't be so hard on yourself."

"You just wanted an excuse to touch my hair."

"Caught me," Lily shrugged with a grin, getting up from her chair, "I'm a sucker for electrocuted hair."

"I prefer the word 'wind-swept', if you don't mind."

Lily laughed, shaking her head good-naturedly. James tried not to pout in disappointment when she walked around him with a goodbye.

"Hey," he turned around in his chair after a beat, and Lily stopped to look at him questioningly. "Will I, umm, see you around? Next week, maybe?"

She bit the inside of her cheek and tilted her head, as if considering him for a moment. James tried to not squirm or appear as nervous as he felt. After a fashion, in the softest of tones, Lily answered him.

"Yeah. Yeah, I suppose you will."

"Right, that's, er, brilliant," James nodded at her, unable to stop the most telling of smiles from splitting across his face.

"Brilliant," Lily echoed in the same soft voice. Then she shook her head again, as if clearing away unwanted thoughts, and smiled at him. "Goodbye, Potter."

"Bye, Lily," James sighed, watching as she stepped outside the shop.

* * *

The next week, James was in considerable high spirits when he entered the shop.

There was a noticeable bounce to his steps, a joyous tilt to his voice, which even Mark—who considered James as his romantic rival for the time being—couldn't help but find contagious.

Mark was rather disappointed that the man with the cool jacket was absent, though.

"Hey, mate," James greeted him.

"Hey," Mark gave a half-hearted wave.

"How are you doing on this fine Sunday morning?"

"I'm doing alright."

"Grand," James grinned brightly, his straight, white teeth flashing, "Alright is really grand."

"Er, I suppose so."

"I'll just hang around over here for a while, yeah?"

"Sure," Mark shrugged, a small smirk slipping onto his boyish face, "you do have to buy something though."

"Right, right," James shifted on his feet restlessly, and Mark wondered momentarily whether he was on a sugar rush. "The thing is, I'm not really hungry, but Lily—you know, Lily Evans—she'll be coming by soon, and most likely sitting with me, and she'll be hungry, so I hope that works out for you?"

"Oh," Mark pouted, "she's on a date with you?"

"Er," James frowned, scratching his head, "I'm not sure, mate. We didn't really discuss the terms."

"Aren't these things supposed to be rather clear?" Mark asked. When he'd dated Jennifer last year, they had been very specific.

"Generally, yeah," James muttered, his frown deepening, and Mark felt sort of bad for chasing away some of his enthusiasm.

"Oh well," Mark waved his hand, "go ahead and take a table."

"You're brilliant, thanks," James grinned again, clapping him on the shoulder. Mark felt a sudden rush of warmth towards the sauce-obsessed man, and smiled back jovially.

James then sauntered over to his usual spot near the window, and plopped down onto the chair.

Soon, more customers started trickling into the shop, and Mark became too busy to pay much attention to James.

After around an hour or two, when the rush took a momentary slump, Mark found himself looking towards the table near the window, expecting to find two people he had somehow taken a liking to sitting together and laughing boisterously.

Instead, he only saw two empty chairs.

Mark frowned.

* * *

"Hello."

Bill, the owner of the Subway joint, immediately turned around at the familiar, unexpected voice. A tired looking, nonetheless pretty, redhead with green eyes stood on the other side of the counter.

"Lily!" He greeted with a large smile, eyebrows shooting up in surprise. "Hi! What are you doing here?"

It was a relatively warm Thursday morning, which meant that most students, including his younger brother, Mark, were on their way to classes. If the bag that Lily had slung across her body and the books she was carrying in her hands were anything to go by, she was on her way to college as well.

"Sub for breakfast?" Bill smiled, "I would tell you that excessive fast food is unhealthy for you, but I'm rather in the business myself, so you see my dilemma."

"Er, no," Lily smiled politely, but shook her head fast, looking quite flustered. Upon closer inspection, Bill noticed that she not only looked tired, but had also lost some weight since the last time he'd seen her, and her skin was looking paler than usual as well. "I actually had to ask you something."

"What is it?" He asked, giving her a concerned look. "Is everything alright? You look a little unwell."

"Yes," Lily sighed heavily, "I had the flu."

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that, how are you now?"

"Much better, thanks. But, umm, I had to ask you," Lily bit her lip, "On Sunday, did—did a boy stop by? Tall, good-looking bloke with crazy hair, nerd glasses?"

"Afraid I can't help you with that," Bill shrugged apologetically, "Mark was on duty."

"Of course, I'd thought as much," She sighed heavily, "when will Mark be here again?"

"Not until Saturday, probably," Bill answered, frowning when he noticed Lily's forlorn expression."You want me to ask him about this bloke? I can let you know."

Lily was silent for a few seconds as she adjusted the strap of her bag on her shoulder. Eventually, she sighed again, shaking her head slowly. "No, I suppose it wouldn't make much difference now anyway."

"Lily, is everything okay?" Bill asked again.

"Yes, yes," She forced a small smile, "It's just that I very possibly stood up a perfectly decent guy."

"From your reaction, I'd wager him to be a little more than just decent," Bill said delicately, "Fancy him quite a bit, don't you?"

Lily's face burned a telling red. "I just met him," she offered in lieu of a proper answer.

"You know when you know."

"Yeah, well," she scoffed bitterly, "I certainly know how this ends, that's for sure."

"Don't be so pessimistic," Bill leaned against the counter with an encouraging smile, "you might run into him again. It's all just a misunderstanding after all. I'm sure this bloke—if he's half as decent as you say he is—wouldn't possibly blame you for catching the flu."

"Yeah, but," Lily scuffed her trainer against the floor, "I have no way of contacting him."

"He might have left his number on Sunday."

"Oh," Lily blinked owlishly, before a grin split across her face, "of course! He might have. I'll stop by on Sunday then. Mark might have it."

"You sure you don't want me to ask him?" Bill offered.

Lily nodded. "I think it's better if I wait until Sunday, honestly. I mean, if he hasn't left his number, then I don't want to have to brood about it any sooner. And if he has, well, two days is hardly going to make much difference now."

"Your call," Bill chuckled. Then, in a gentler voice, he said, "No decent guy would ever lose you over something like this, don't worry."

"I don't see how he has any more control over this than I do," Lily smiled sadly, "But I hope you're right."

"It'll work out fine, you'll see."

"Right, well, I need to run now, or I'll miss my first lecture," Lily waved him goodbye, walking towards the door.

"All the best with your crazy-haired guy!"

* * *

**A/N** – Not how I originally planned this chapter to end, but here we are. If my approximations are right, we should have two, at _most_ three, chapters left for this story to be completed. Must say, this is turning out to be quite fun to write. Hope you guys are enjoying this as much as I am. Please leave me some reviews; they're better than cold milkshakes on a blistering day. Much love.

Claudia.


	3. Chapter 3

**Obnoxious Onlooker**

**Chapter 3**

**Disclaimer** – Own nothing. You already know it all.

* * *

The sound of pages turning filled the little space Lily had occupied in the bookstore. She sat on one of the unbelievably comfortable bean bags placed near the bookshelves, hidden from view to enjoy some peace and quiet.

Not to read, as some people might guess from her presence in a bookstore or the pages that her fingers absently skimmed over, but to think.

To think long and hard about how absolutely miserable she felt.

As she’d promised Bill two days earlier, Lily had visited the Subway outlet that morning with jittery nerves and a generally hopeful disposition.

However, after a brief conversation with Mark, she had all but resembled a deflated balloon, all nerves and hopefulness diffused out of her.

James hadn't left her his number.

He hadn't asked Mark anything about Lily at all. He'd simply left without a word.

Well, maybe _anything_ wasn't the correct term. He had, after all, shown some excitement initially, from what Mark had told her.

Lily supposed that if she'd been stood up by someone—regardless of the utter ambiguity of what their meeting was supposed to signify—she would have felt rather insulted. It wasn't fair of her to be upset over James not leaving her his number.

Maybe he'd realized that she just wasn't worth the effort.

Lily sighed heavily, frowning as she stared down at the book open on her lap. For possibly the hundredth time since she'd arrived at the store, her eyes ran over the words without really understanding them.

If someone had told her two weeks ago that she'd be losing her cool over a boy—much less over James Potter, the sauce-prat—Lily would have thrown back her head and had herself a hearty laugh.

As it was, she couldn't laugh now, not when she was brooding darkly while sitting in one of her most favorite places in the city, attempting and failing to do what she loved most.

It was all so bizarre.

Lily hadn't even been _aware_ that she fancied James, let alone to such a degree. She'd had only one measly conversation with him—albeit, a very amusing one—and had left the shop feeling quite light and cheery. The disconcerting onslaught of butterflies in her stomach had baffled her, but she hadn’t wanted to consider it as anything serious. He'd been so charming and ridiculous, and his obvious interest in her had only added to it, which Lily honestly had not expected. Of course, it did help that he was positively scrummy.

Regardless, Lily hadn't expected to feel so crushed when she'd caught the flu—not because of the sickness itself, but because she’d had to miss her meeting with James.

A final attempt at reading was all she gave before deciding that she wasn’t getting anywhere with the novel.

With an overly-annoyed exhale, Lily snapped the book shut loudly.

Resigned to her pathetic mood, Lily pulled herself from the depths of the squashed bean bag, placed the book back onto the shelf, and made her way towards the exit morosely.

Busy as she was drowning in self misery, it was only when a muffled thud and a subsequent "bugger!" reached her ears did Lily's eyes snap up in surprise.

She whirled on her spot, heart pounding and swelling with hope. That voice! She'd recognize it anywhere. She hadn't been able to get it out of her head as of late.

And yet, it couldn't possibly be…

Lily quickly made her way towards the back of the store, passing by several bookshelves and a few avid readers, who either ignored her, or simply gave her a curious look before returning back to their books. Her sneakers gave the smallest of squeaks against the hardwood floor when she finally stopped in front of the adult romance section.

And there he was.

James wore a plain white t-shirt and a pair of dark jeans, a combination which looked unfairly attractive on him. His arms were filled with about half a dozen novels, which he was struggling to balance while he picked up one that had fallen to the floor.

Upon Lily's sudden theatrical arrival however, his eyes snapped up, and then the rest of the books tumbled down from his arms as well.

"Oh, shit!"

"Uh—let me help you—"

"No, no I've got it—"

"No really," Lily said, bending down and scooping up a few books from the floor. She tried not to laugh at the cringe-worthy titles of some of the books. "I'm sorry I startled you."

"Ah, that's—it's okay," James straightened up, one hand flying to thread through his hair. He was deliberately avoiding eye contact with her, and Lily tried to get rid of the heavy feeling in her chest.

"Hey," she said softly, a small smile on her face. "Umm, how are you?"

"I'm fine," James answered immediately, as if on reflex. He finally looked at her then, his expression awkward. "How—how are you?"

"Fine," Lily lied, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

"Good," James nodded once, "that's, er, really good."

Lily didn't know what to reply to that. She was too much of a coward to bring up what she actually wanted to ask right away, so she gestured towards the books in her arms. "Catching up on your romance?"

"Oh," James blushed furiously, "That's—those aren't for me!"

"No?"

"No, no, definitely not," he insisted, "I mean, I appreciate good literature, but these are not exactly—"

"It's okay, I'm not judging you—"

"No, really, most of these are utter crap! I would _never_ read them."

Lily grinned in amusement. "How do you know they're crap if you haven't read them?"

"They're umm, for my mother," James admitted, cheeks pink again, "she, umm, sent me to get these."

"You're—" Lily choked on a laugh, "you're buying trashy romance novels for your mother?"

"For a good reason!" James immediately defended himself, staring hard at the floor, as if willing it to open up and swallow him whole. "She promised treacle tart for dessert."

"I see," Lily said, face turning red from trying to hold in her laughter, "so you were bribed."

"It was a _bargain_."

"Right, bargain. Of course."

"I'm totally the one benefiting from this," James emphasized, a reluctant grin slipping onto his face, which just added to Lily's merriness. But then his smile waned, and his eyes started skirting around again. "Right, well, I suppose I should…uh, get going."

"Oh, yeah," Lily's merriment disappeared immediately, "yeah, okay."

"Here, let me take those," James sighed, stepping forward so that Lily could place the books on top of his stack. He didn't move back once she did that though, instead choosing to stare at her with the oddest of expressions.

Lily fleetingly realized that this was the closest she'd ever been to him, and that really, his eyes deserved as much appreciation as his hair did. They were such a beautiful honey color with specks of green added to the mix, making for the most entrancing eyes.

Lily blushed, realizing that she'd been openly staring, and took a step back. "I, er, sorry," she cleared her throat.

James cocked an amused eyebrow. "For what?"

"For, y'know…" she waved her hand lamely, "startling you, making you drop your books, and umm, staring."

James's lips quirked up at the last bit, his eyes glinting mischievously. Lily's face grew warmer.

"Is that all?" he asked.

Lily bit her lip. It took no genius to catch the underlying implication in the tone of his voice. He was giving her a chance to bring it up—to tell him why she hadn't shown up. He had every right to know, obviously, and it wasn't as if she’d missed their meeting out of any malicious intent.

And yet...

"Yeah, that's it," she said. James's lips pursed together in disappointment, the light in his eyes dulled, and Lily wanted to kick herself.

"Alright then," James nodded curtly, turning away from her. "Goodbye, Lily."

But once he was actually walking away, Lily couldn't help herself.

"Why didn't you leave a number?" She yelled rather than asked.

Naturally, the people in the bookstore threw her quite a few righteous glares and shushing noises for the outburst. Lily, however, didn't tear her eyes away from James. She was determined not to back down.

She _did_ blush something horrid though. Especially when James turned around with an incredulous look on his face.

"I'm sorry?" he asked, head tilted to the left, " _what_ did you say?"

Lily bit her lip, sighed, and then shuffled a few steps forward. "Why didn't you leave your number?" she repeated, much more meekly this time.

"Why would I?!" James frowned, "I had no reason to believe that I should have, given that there was no one to leave it _for_." The pointed look he sent her here was well-earned, even in Lily's opinion.

"I—" Lily wrung her hands together, "I didn't—I _wanted_ to come, but I couldn't. I wasn't well."

"You weren't well?"

"No," she shook her head, looking into his eyes imploringly. "I had the flu, James. Of course I wanted to come! I just…couldn't."

"Oh," James said. He shifted his weight around awkwardly. "So, uh, it wasn't because you thought I was a ponce?"

"No!" Lily laughed, and there was a tinge of relief in her voice. "I mean, yeah, I do think you're a ponce, but only in the best possible way. Why else would I agree to meeting you again? I'm not much of a masochist, if you thought otherwise."

"Well, I don't know." James shrugged his shoulders, and Lily noticed they were really nice shoulders. "What's a bloke supposed to think when he's waited for over an hour for a girl who doesn't even show up?"

"I _told_ you I had the flu!"

"You did so _now_."

"Yes, well, now you know," Lily huffed.

"Now I know," James repeated, and a small smirk graced his face, making Lily jittery all of a sudden. "And what do you suppose I should do with that information?"

"I don’t want to be presuming anything here," Lily smiled, "but we can always reschedule our missed meeting."

"Why, that's not presumptuous at all," James grinned, shifting the books around in his arms. "This is as good a meeting as any."

"James," Lily deadpanned, "you know that's not what I meant."

"No? What did you mean then?"

" _James_."

" _Lily_ ," There was a shit-eating grin on his face now. "Are you asking me out on a date?"

Lily's eyes widened, her face growing impossibly red, and her heart pounding loud enough that she was afraid the bookstore occupants would shush her again. "I'm—well, maybe I am."

"There, that wasn't so hard now, was it?" James winked, trying to be casual, but the telling glow in his eyes and his sudden restlessness gave him away.

"So?" Lily prodded, heart still beating far too fast to be considered healthy. "Will we? Reschedule, I mean?"

"To when?"

"Well, coming Sunday would be convenient for me," Lily began, chest swelling with uncontrolled hope, "But, if you want we could try some other day too—"

"Sunday, hmm," James cut her off, pretending to think, "That's quite a bother."

"Umm—"

"It'd be a real pain to stay away from you until then."

"Oh," Lily bit her cheek, heart fluttering madly.

"Oh, indeed," James smirked, and Lily had the fleeting intuition that had his hands not been occupied by a bunch of ridiculous novels, he would have run his fingers through his hair.

She was increasingly— _frighteningly_ —fighting the urge to do the same, and promptly crossed her arms over her chest to avoid truly making a fool of herself.

"I really need to be getting these home now," James admitted after a few seconds of stupid smiling, nodding towards the books he carried, "if I still want the treacle tart, that is."

"Right, I need to be getting back, too," Lily sent him a rueful smile, "I promised my roommate a movie night."

"Sounds to me like we need to leave together."

Lily laughed, shaking her head fondly as she accompanied him to the cash register.

Irma Pince, the bookstore owner, was an irritable-looking lady with parchment-like skin. Lily knew her from her frequent visits to the store, and was therefore quite adept at ignoring the permanently etched scowl on the woman’s face as she rang up James’s purchases.

"James?" Lily nudged his side.

"Lily?" He smiled charmingly.

"Think I might need your number now."

"Terribly inconvenient, that."

"Why?" Lily frowned, "Do you not have a phone?"

"Oh, I do very much have a phone, Evans."

"Then what's the problem?"

"Just that once I have your number, I might lose all self-control and text you until you decide you can no longer take it," James sighed.

Lily's lips twitched in amusement. "I'll take my chances, Potter," she said dryly, pulling out her phone and offering it to him.

"If you insist," James shrugged with a smirk, taking the phone from her and quickly entering his number, before handing it back.

"Brilliant," Lily grinned. She saved his number and then turned the screen around to show him.

The contact name 'Honey Mustard' blinked back at him, and James rolled his eyes.

"Oh, aren’t you funny?"

Once that was done, the pair stepped outside the shop, their boots crunching softly against the fresh snow gathered on the pavement.

"This is where I leave you, then," James said dramatically, smiling down at her.

Lily shrugged, pulling her beanie over her red hair as she moved closer to him. "Suppose you must. Think you can manage not to wither away for another week?"

"I'll try my best not to," James answered, his voice suddenly low and soft. "Might be extremely difficult though. How will I ever survive?"

Lily smirked, raising an amused eyebrow at his theatrics, before pushing herself up on her tiptoes and brushing a kiss against James's cheek. Light stubble tickled her face as she pulled away.

"Maybe that'll help," Lily whispered, her cheeks glowing pink as she started taking slow, deliberate steps away from him. Her gaze never left his though, even as she saw James stare back at her with a stunned expression.

"Worse," he breathed finally, the air whooshing out of his lungs, "that makes it much, _much_ worse."

Lily threw her head back and laughed, feeling immensely giddy and light-headed. She raised her hand to give him a small wave. "Goodbye, James," she said, before finally turning around to leave.

"Goodbye," James's soft reply carried to her ears after she'd taken a few steps, and Lily smiled.

* * *

 It was Friday, and James was all out of patience by now.

His frequent chats with Lily over the past few days had been wonderful, teaching him more about the redhead than he could have ever expected to learn from simply watching her dance. She was astoundingly clever, cheeky as hell, and absolutely brilliant. This worked out pretty well for James, as it would have been a real shame if the most gorgeous girl he'd ever come across had ended up being a brainless bint.

Lily was no brainless bint, though.

No, no, she was anything but.

He'd also learnt that she lived with her vivacious—and often, inappropriate—roommate, Mary MacDonald, who had taken an instant liking to James and felt no qualms in loudly telling Lily to have phone sex with him whenever he called.

James secretly loved the teasing, of course, but he would never confess as much to Lily, who always became adorably embarrassed and profusely apologized to him each time Mary opened her mouth.

Fortunately for James, Sirius was never around when he called Lily, which might have been because James always kicked him out of the room first, lest he lose all his dignity. He was rather certain Sirius could give Mary a run for her money any day.

But despite how much he loved his phone conversations with Lily—and he loved them quite a bit—there was something so exhilarating about seeing her, bantering with her, and watching her reactions to him that was frighteningly addicting.

And so, after a rather grueling football practice at college on Friday, James unthinkingly found himself in front of Lily's dance studio.

It was only when he was already standing there that James realized he was acting like an utter moron.

He was past all this nonsense, past staring at her from the studio windows. He had a date with her in less than forty-eight hours, for crying out loud!

And yet, James couldn't help it. He missed her. It was crazy, he'd only known her for a few weeks, but he was undeniably, completely, terrifyingly smitten with Lily Evans.

His only consolation was that, as far as he could tell, she was quite smitten with him too.

So, for some much needed peace of mind, James casually walked by the studio just as he'd done on that first day, when he'd still been a complete novice in matters of the heart.

When he was almost past the building, his eyes automatically latched onto the large glass window which revealed a handful of tittering children dressed up in ballet attire, running around inside the studio.

No flash of red hair or green eyes though.

James frowned, wondering whether Lily had fallen sick again, or had simply taken the day off.

"Withered away already, have you?"

James jumped a foot in the air, swearing viciously. One of his hands reached up to press against his thundering heart while he supported himself against the wall using the other. Once he steadied himself, James took a deep breath and turned around.

Lily stood before him, an amused smile playing on her lips as she regarded him with barely concealed mirth. Her hair was tied up in a messy bun above her head, and she wore a plain grey sweatshirt with jeans and sneakers.

She looked effortlessly lovely, and James's heart didn’t feel like slowing down.

"Holy mother of God, Evans! Give a poor bloke a heart attack, why don't you?" He narrowed his eyes playfully.

"Still snarky I see," Lily nodded, a chuckle slipping out, "no withering away then. My bad."

"Couldn't possibly wither away before Sunday," James grinned, already feeling his blood singing in his veins. "I can't let you off that easy again, now, can I?"

"Who wants to be let off, anyway?" Lily smirked, "Rest assured that I will come drag you from your house on Sunday if you don't show up, Potter, withering or no withering."

"Now, that's hardly a fair accusation, Lily," he said, "How could you think I won't show up when I am right here, standing in front of your studio, talking to you?"

"Maybe you came to finally tell me how utterly boring I am," Lily said dryly, and then her eyes grew comically wide, "Oh dear God, please tell me that's not it."

James laughed loudly. "Of course not, you daft woman!"

"Thank God, that would have been embarrassing," Lily said, miming wiping away sweat from her forehead. James chuckled under his breath. Then she propped a hand on her hip and tilted her head sideways, smiling up at him. "So, what are you doing here, then? Been stalking me, have you?"

_Been stalking me, have you?_

It really said something about James's fragile state—both due to his _long_ week and merciless football practice—that he didn't immediately laugh the question off as a witty quip like Lily had obviously expected him to do.

Instead, James's mouth fell open, he froze on the spot, and a blush crept up his cheeks, all of which Lily would have had to be blind to not notice.

"James?" She frowned worriedly.

"No!" He barked out suddenly, startling her. And then he cleared his throat with an apologetic look, "I mean, no, no, of course not—not _stalking_ you, that's stupid, and actually a very subjective term, if you asked me. I mean, I would've had to follow you around for that, and that's—well, very creepy. Creepy indeed. And _so_ not what I did. So that's—yeah, not stalking." James chuckled, sounding horrendously awkward and crazy even to his own ears.

"Right, not stalking, got it," Lily agreed quickly with a frown. After a beat, she reached out and laid a gentle hand on his arm. "James, are you okay?"

The touch seemed to pull James back from whatever ludicrous state he had gone into. He sighed heavily, running a hand through his hair. "Yes," he said, giving a half-smile. "Sorry 'bout that. Just really tired. Football and you—"

"I make you tired?" Lily asked amusedly, seeming relieved that he was no longer acting like a lunatic.

"Keeping up with your wit is quite the challenge, Evans."

"You don't do so bad yourself," Lily patted his arm, stepping a little closer to him. And damn it if James didn't feel his heart swell like a besotted fool. "Sunday really is seeming rather far away now."

"Isn't it?"

"Mhm," Lily stepped even closer, and James's hand automatically curved around her waist. "And your jersey isn't helping either. Do you _have_ to be so fit, Potter?"

James couldn't help the incredulous burst of laughter that left him. " _Me_? Have you looked into the mirror lately?"

"Perfect pair then, aren't we?" Lily whispered, a smirk on her face.

"Think I'm rubbing off on you," James grinned, heart thumping happily, "I'm—"

"Lily—oh! Sorry, I hope I'm not interrupting."

James's head snapped up to see a woman in her early thirties standing a few feet behind Lily. There was a small girl in a purple tutu accompanying the woman, and the girl stared back at James with a wide grin.

"Oh, not at all, Mrs. Bones," Lily turned around with a pleasant smile, putting a respectable distance between herself and James. "I was just talking to a friend. You're leaving then?"

"Yes, yes," Mrs. Bones smiled back, "Just wanted to thank you again. Melissa's been doing so wonderfully as of late. We're very proud of her."

James could almost see the pleased glow on Lily's face, and found himself grinning automatically. "She's one of my best students," Lily said happily. "I'm glad I've been able to help."

"Hullo," Melissa chirped.

James blinked, looking down at the small girl, and realizing that she'd addressed him.

"Hello, there," James smiled, taking a few steps forward and crouching down in front her. She was a pretty little thing with rosy cheeks and brown pigtails. "My name's James."

"I know you," Melissa grinned again, and James's eyebrows shot into his hairline.

"Know him?" Lily chuckled, looking down at them. "How?"

"I saw him here," she answered, playing with the frills of her tutu.

"Here?" Lily asked, the smile morphing into genuine curiosity. "When?"

"Many times," Melissa giggled, "He is always looking at you from the window. You don't see him. We call him the window-man."

Dear God, he sounded like some sort of serial killer.

It was all happening too fast, too unexpectedly, for James to do anything but sit there and watch the horrifying interaction play out.

"What?" Lily breathed.

"Melissa," Mrs. Bones called, seeming to realize that there was something strange going on, and looking quite awkward at having to participate in it.

Lily wasn't letting go, however. "When did you last see him?"

"Hmm," Melissa put a finger to her chin, scrunching up her face in an attempt to look contemplative. James would have found it endearing under normal circumstances, were it not for the fact that the ten-year old was very well on her way to ruin his chances with the woman of his dreams.

Desperate to salvage the situation, James stood up and tried to catch Lily's eye, to plead, to apologize, to do _something_ , but she wouldn't even look his way. Her green eyes were fixed on the small girl, an unreadable expression on her face that scared him to no end.

"I suppose it was the day when Judy twisted her ankle," Melissa eventually replied, seeming very impressed with herself.

Lily gasped softly at the answer, her eyes wide and unbelieving. "That was almost two months ago," she whispered, more to herself than anyone.

Mrs. Bones, finally having had enough, quickly tugged on her daughter's hand, and rushed away from the studio with a quick, sincere apology to them.

James's eyes never left Lily however, not wanting to miss any change in her expression. But she never uttered so much as a word, and he couldn't even begin to guess at what was going on in her head. He didn't know what Lily was thinking, what she was feeling, whether she completely despised him now, and it was absolute agony to wait.

"Lily?" James finally tried, gulping hard.

At the sound of her name, she finally turned. And the expression on her face made James want to shrivel up right there out of mortification.

* * *

 **A/N -** Oooh, this was so much fun to write! Leave me a bunch of reviews, won't you? Eons of love.

Claudia.


	4. Chapter 4

**Obnoxious Onlooker**

**Chapter 4  
**

**Disclaimer** – Own nothing. You already know it all.

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"Was—was she telling the truth, James?"

"Lily—"

"Just answer me," Lily cut him off, "yes or no?"

"I—" James clenched his teeth in frustration, running one hand through his hair. He sighed heavily, and then looked straight into her eyes, a frown adorning his face. "Fine, _yes_ , she was telling the truth."

But Lily knew that. Of course she did.

" _Why_ —?" she seemed to struggle for words. "What? Two _months_?"

James's heart sped up at her expression. She looked more confused than angry. That had to mean something good. It had to. Right?

"What do you want me to say, Lily?" James took a tentative step forward, palms spread open in front of him. He took it as a good sign that she didn't immediately move back. "If you're thinking—if you're thinking I'm some sort of a _creep_ —"

"That's not what I'm thinking," Lily snorted.

"It…isn't?" James tilted his head in confusion.

"I know, you'd expect me to, right?"

"I mean, I'm not complaining," James rushed to explain, "I swear, I didn't ever like, follow you around or anything. It was just—I saw you at the studio one day, and you were like, _fucking_ beautiful, and I couldn't help but watch you. In the most non-creepy way ever, really—"

" _James_ ," Lily stopped him again, and a blush was blooming over her cheeks. "It's okay. I'm hardly going to think you were stalking me because you watched me dance."

"You—you don't think so?"

"Do you _want_ me to?"

"Jesus, no," James shook his head vehemently, "I mean, _I_ know I wasn't stalking, but Sirius—"

"Ah, Sirius."

"I just didn't want you to feel uncomfortable."

"I _don't_ know how I feel right now, actually," Lily frowned, "This is going to take some time to settle in."

"You're not, y'know…" James shuffled his feet nervously, "going to run away, are you?"

Lily laughed loudly, the sound tugging hard at James's heartstrings. "If only I could."

He didn't like that answer. "Lily—"

"No, that—that came out wrong," Lily sighed, shaking her head. "I need to think about this for a while."

"Okay," James said slowly, liking this even lesser. "Do you hate me now?"

"I'm sorry?" she blinked, surprised. "Hate you?"

"You know, for not telling you I knew you from before?"

"Oh, right," Lily frowned, as if the thought had just occurred to her. "Heavens, Potter, you're quite the guy, aren't you?"

"Umm," He said, sending such a pitiful look her way that Lily chuckled despite herself.

"No, James, I don't hate you," she sighed heavily, "but this is all very sudden, you know. I'm not sure I like it."

"I get it," James muttered, staring down at his feet dejectedly.

"So, I'm going to go home now. It's been a really long day," Lily rubbed her temples, "And I need to think about all this. I'll—text you later, maybe?"

Well at least she hadn't stomped over his heart with her trainers yet, James consoled himself morosely. Although, he wouldn't have been surprised if her 'later' translated to 'haha, never, you sucker!'

Still, he nodded his head compliantly. "Right, sure."

"Can—can I ask you something?"

James looked up, finding Lily staring at him with an odd expression on her face. It was getting dark now, but he could still make out the slight tinge of pink on her cheeks.

Curiosity taking over, James nodded again.

"It wasn't just two months ago, was it?" Lily asked, much to his horror. "Since when have you been coming here?"

James grimaced. "I'd really like to not have to answer that."

"Please," she insisted.

He sighed, resigned to his torturous fate. "I'm not sure exactly? A couple of months, probably. Three or four."

"Right," Lily chewed on her lip, "And on that first day, when we met at Subway—"

"I didn't follow you there, I swear, Lily!"

"No, no," she shook her head, laughing, "I meant to ask, did I, you know…"

James frowned in confusion. "Did you what?"

" _You_ know," Lily gestured with her arms lamely, "meet your expectations?"

"Meet my— _what_?"

"Christ, Potter," she blushed, not meeting his eyes, "don't make me repeat it."

"No, I just," James blinked, "Umm,"

"You know what, it doesn't matter," Lily backtracked quickly, her face all but resembling a tomato now, "this is silly, I'm silly, and I'm just—well, going home now. Yes, that's what I'll do."

"No, no, hang on a second," James reached out and caught her wrist, preventing Lily's impromptu escape into the night. "What is this really about?"

"Nothing!" Lily answered, her voice a little too shrill to be considered normal. At James's incredulous expression, she cleared her throat, put on her best mature-lady voice, and tried again. "I mean, nothing, nothing at all, James. Now, if you'll excuse me…"

"Lily—"

"Don't make me say it," she practically begged now, worrying James all the more. "It's pointless and mortifying."

"Ha," James barked out automatically, "Mortifying? I'm all over mortification _and_ all of its synonyms. I live with it. You have nothing on me. So stop acting like a madwoman and just say what's on your mind, would you?"

Lily frowned, not liking being chastised.

"Fine," she huffed, "I was just wondering whether, you know, after having _observed_ me, for a lack of better word, what did you really think about me? When you actually met me? I'm trying to understand what was going through your head."

"Oh," James breathed, eyes widening. "Good God, Evans, you're a complete loon."

"I—excuse me?!"

But he was grinning madly now, ignoring Lily's offended expression.

"You're crazy," James repeated happily, "perhaps even crazier than I am."

"You know that's _really_ not helping—"

"You just found that I have been watching you through a goddamned window for months now, like an absolute deranged lunatic, I might add, and the only concern you have is whether _you met my expectations?_ "

"Well," Lily grumbled, shifting her weight around awkwardly, "Goodnight then."

"You were nothing like I imagined," James answered softly, ignoring her. An amused smile still played on his lips, even as Lily felt something heavy settle on her chest.

"Does that mean—"

"It means that you were far cheekier, wittier and snarkier than I could have ever expected you to be," James cut her off, "And it means that you were smarter, kinder and more gorgeous than I ever gave you credit for from the other side of the glass."

"Ah," Lily said, the smile in her voice breaking through despite her valiant attempts at concealing it. "I see."

"And that is why, Lily Evans, I will let you have your time," James grinned, taking slow, deliberate steps backwards, "because waiting for you is worth it."

Lily clicked her tongue playfully, "But what if I decide you're too creepy for me?"

"I have a feeling that is something you'd go for," James winked before turning away.

"Huh. That doesn't sound quite right."

"Like I said before, you're crazier than I am, Lily!" He laughed, finally disappearing from sight.

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"And then you _what_?"

"And then I told her that creepy is something she'd go for."

"It's official mate, you're a disaster. I can no longer be associated with you."

"Shut up, Sirius," James groaned, his face pressed against the bed mattress. "I feel awful enough as it is."

"As you very well should!" Came the annoyed reply, promptly followed by a flying pillow which thwacked James on the back of his head. "I mean, you make a fool out of yourself—pathetic, although not entirely unexpected. But accusing a bird of possessing the same mental disabilities? Harsh, mate."

"It's not a disability, you ponce," James glared, throwing the pillow back at Sirius, who was expecting it, and therefore had no difficulty catching the projectile, much to James's chagrin. "I'm telling you! There was something in the air—something told me that she didn't mind at all."

"Yes I'm sure Lily was overjoyed at being addressed as a creep-lover."

"All right, that's it," James turned back around, "I'm ceasing communication with you until you decide to no longer take the mickey out of me."

"Oh good," Sirius cheered, "I won't have to hear you whine again for—let's see—forever."

"Bastard."

"I thought you weren't communicating."

"That doesn't count."

"You're still doing it."

"Shut up."

"Your phone's buzzing."

"I know."

"Then check it! It's annoying me."

"It's—it's Lily," James whispered, sitting up and staring at the screen.

"Well?" Sirius's eyebrows rose inquisitively, "Is she filing a restraining order?"

James spared a second to glare at him in annoyance. "Not as of yet, no."

"What is she saying then?" Sirius continued, walking over to him. "Scoot over, let me read."

"Absolutely not!" James was aghast, "privacy, please."

Sirius leveled him with a bored stare. "I will tell her things that will ruin your life."

"Fair enough," James moved over, patting the empty space beside him, "you can read."

 **Lily:** Hi, you busy?

 **James:** No, not at all, what's up?

 **Lily:** Just wanted to let you know—you were wrong.

"Dear God, what was I wrong about?"

"Ask her, you twat," Sirius replied in annoyance.

"But what if it's something I don't wanna know?" James fretted, "I know I said some really questionable things today, so it's hard to decipher what she may be talking about."

"Stop it, look, she's typing again!"

"I don't wanna see it!"

"James—"

"I don't wanna hear it!"

"Oh my," Sirius whispered. "Open your eyes, you moron."

"Oh no, it's bad, isn't it?" James moaned, "She hates me now. She never wants to see my face again. Hell, she'll probably even file that restraining order you were talking about."

"She still wants to go on the date with you."

"She—she _what_?" James's eyes flew open, his hands snatching the phone away from Sirius.

 **Lily:** You were wrong. Creepy is not something I'd go for. Not in general anyway. There's only one creep for me. I think you might know him. His name is James Potter.

 **Lily:** Guess you were right too. I might just be crazier than you are. Who knew, right?

 **Lily:** So? What do you say about that date, James?

 **Lily:** James?

 **Lily:** Hello? Anybody home?

"Would you reply already, you idiot?!" Sirius finally barked at James, whose face seemed to have etched permanently into a blinding smile.

"She isn't running away."

"She will soon if you don't reply."

"But she didn't mind," James laughed, "I was right. Oh, what a wonderful world!"

"Ugh, this is making me nauseous, I'm out of here," Sirius grimaced, getting off the bed, "Good luck with your bird, mate. Clearly, you're both made for each other. Don't screw it up. Again."

"Will do my best," James replied dazedly, his eyes still glued to the screen even as Sirius left the room with a chuckle.

 **James:** Must say, never have I ever been more pleased at being called a creep.

 **Lily:** Oh good, you're alive. Got me worried for a second there.

 **James:** Would have missed me, then?

 **Lily:** Oh yes. There wouldn't be anyone to teach me all about sandwiches and sauces anymore. Terribly inconvenient, that.

 **James:** Ha, you know you couldn't stay away from this dashing face even if you tried.

 **Lily** : James.

 **James:** Lily.

 **Lily:** You haven't answered my question.

James's smile grew wider, his eyes shining brightly as he fell back onto the bed with a merry sigh.

And a few miles away, Lily Evans, upon receiving a much awaited text message, was heard giggling madly from her room by her friend Mary Macdonald.

 **James:** I'll pick you up at 7pm tomorrow.

 **Lily:** That would be quite nice, thanks.

**The End**

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 **A/N** \- Finally got around to finishing this fic. Although this chapter turned out to be shorter than it was inside my head, I have no regrets. Any longer and I probably would have spoiled it. Hope you guys enjoy it. Please do leave me reviews, they're better than freshly baked cookies with milk. Truckloads of love.

Claudia.


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